Elevators, Rings and Spencers
by LittleRedRobinHood
Summary: The students at Hogwarts are on break for Christmas Vacation, but for one Lily Evans, school sounds more appealing than home. On a spontaneous trip to the mall with Marlene, a small part of Hogwarts is brought back to her. Maybe her favorite part. (Or) Lily and James get stuck in an elevator.


Lily Evans bounced on her toes as she repeatedly pressed the "up" button outside the elevator, waiting for it to open. Winter break had come all too soon, she was sorry to admit. Not that she wasn't excited to be home for Christmas, but the holidays hadn't been the same since Petunia began seeing that pompous whale she called her boyfriend. It wasn't that Lily didn't like Vernon exactly, she just… wished her sister had never met him. Then, however, she supposed Petunia would have just found another boring, mundane, ridiculous idiot to fall in love with. Still, anyone was better than Vernon Dursley.

The elevator doors dinged and finally slid open. Lily quickly stepped inside and pressed the button for top floor. She twisted her little silver ring around her middle finger, antsy to get back to her best friend.

_Thank goodness for Marlene, _she thought to herself. If Lily had been forced to spend one more day listening to Petunia flirt with the whale through the wall between their two rooms, she would have lost her mind and gone back to school. Train or no train.

As it happens, Marlene road in and saved her just before it could happen. She hadn't even called first, just apparated, illegally Lily might add, right outside the house and walked in like she'd been there a million times. Luckily Lily had been the first person to see her or else her poor mum would've had a heart attack.

"What are you doing here?" Lily had asked, surprised as she had exited the kitchen with a plate of cookies to set own on the coffee table.

"Come on Lils, we're going to the mall," was Marlenes brilliant reply.

"Are we?"

"My best friend instincts were telling me you needed the company, and I haven't finished my Christmas shopping."

Lily eyed the girl skeptically. She looked innocent enough, but Lily knew better. But there she was, standing in Lily's living room dressed in casual clothes, a giant coat and a Gryffindor scarf like some sort of miraculous lifeline and Lily couldn't deny how much she'd missed her roommate.

"I mean," Marlene continued, "I missed you."

Lily had smiled then and gladly told her parents she was going out. Now here she was. Alone in an elevator at the mall and hurrying to the top floor where Marlene was waiting at Victoria Secret. Obviously she'd been unable to stay with Lily when she'd stopped to by Alice a collection from bath and body works, claiming the smell gave her a headache.

The elevator stopped again on the fourth floor and as the doors slid open to reveal the object of Lily's nightmares, her mouth fell open. A boyish and disheveled looking James Potter stood on the other side, freezing for moment in astonishment before pasting on that ridiculously charming smile and stepping inside.

"Alright, Evans?" He grinned, standing too close in front of her as the doors closed once again, trapping her in the small space with him. She noticed he'd neglected to choose a floor.

She was having trouble believing this was actually happening to her. How could James bloody Potter have found his way to her mall? Into her elevator? The same night her and Marlene had opted to go out? Wasn't there somewhere else he could've been? Diagon Alley or some other magical community of shops designed for witches and wizards and their shopping desires?

"Why the bloody hell are you here, Potter?"

"As always, a wonderfully warm greeting from you, Evans. I'm shopping, just like everyone else."

Lily rolled her eyes. "In a muggle mall? Why?"

"Well," he reached up to run a hand through his already unkempt hair. Ruthless. "One of Padfoot's favorite stores is here and he's been meaning to take us there for a while."

She should have guessed the other three were here as well. "Which store?"

"Simons?" He answered, unsure.

"Spenders," Lily corrected with another dramatic roll of her eyes, of course that was Blacks favorite shop. "Unbelievable."

"What? What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing. If you're into lewd objects, toys and demeaning paraphernalia. Which I presume you are."

He nodded his head in understanding. "That does sound like Padfoot, but I only said it was one of his favorite places, not mine."

"It's none of my business," Lily held up her hands. "Where is your boyfriend anyway? Get separated?"

"He's with Peter and Remus trying to decide on a present for my mum," he answered. Unphased as usual. "I told them I needed to use the bathroom but really I'm looking for their gag gifts.

Lily nodded and leaned back against the wall of the elevator, wishing it would just hurry and open on her floor. Why had her and Marlene chosen to meet on the top floor?

"What about you?" Potter continued, moving to lean his shoulder against the wall beside her. "Are you here by yourself?"

"No. Marlene's waiting for me at- upstairs," She wasn't about to give him suggestive leverage by revealing that she was going to Victoria Secret.

"At upstairs," he repeated with a smirk. "Okay, good for McKinnon. I'll have to say hi."

"She doesn't want to talk to you," she began twisting her ring around her finger again.

"Oh, I'm sure she's been dying to talk about Quidditch strategies with someone."

"No. She's good."

Potter just nodded with amusement as the elevator finally dinged, arriving on the top floor. "Let's go see," he said and pushed himself away from the wall as the doors opened.

Lily groaned and moved to stop him, reaching for his arm. "Potter, don't you- "

The doors dinged again, even though they were already open. Then again before the lights flickered. The elevator shook, and the doors began to close and open repeatedly. Lily gasped, stumbling forward into the moving doors but James caught her and pulled her away from them as the elevator gave another bone rattling jerk, creaked, and began to fall.

"James!" Lily gasped again, grasping at his arms and trying to keep herself up. She didn't know what she expected him to do.

"Hang on!" He ordered before the elevator began to screech and lurched to a rough stop, causing their knees to buckle. James fell back into the wall, and lily fell back into James.

They kept still, not wanting to move and cause the elevator to keep falling. Lily was shaking and breathing hard, clutching at Potters arm that was similarly locked around her waist. After a minute of nothing happening and the lights remaining on, they looked at each other and began to stand upright again; James, with his preposterous Quidditch muscles, easily lifting Lily up in front of him, like a child who'd tripped and fallen over.

She clasped the railing beside her, hands still shaking and hesitantly attempted to press the "door open" button. Nothing happened. The button didn't even light up.

She sighed, "We're stuck."

"This is why Hogwarts doesn't have elevators," he said as if it were a long-awaited answer to his question."

"Yeah," Lily began sarcastically. "_This_ is why Hogwarts doesn't have elevators."

James ignored her sarcasm and slumped against the wall again, sinking to the floor, closing his eyes, and crossing his ankles with a contended sigh.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked.

James peeked one eye open. "What?"

"What do you mean "What"? Get your wand out and open the doors."

"Can't."

"Why not."

"Don't have my wand."

"How could you not have your wand!"

"Well, why don't you use yours?"

Lily fell silent, her own words coming back to bite her. "I didn't bring a bag. It's in Marlene's purse."

James closed his eyes again and folded his hands behind his head. "Well then," he relaxed, "I see no problem with getting comfortable."

Then for good measure, he patted his lap for her to come sit on. Lily groaned and sat down in the corner next to the shopping bags she'd dropped. She should have just put her wand in one of them. She leaned her head back against the wall and rubbed her forehead.

"Relax," James chuckled and rummaged around in his pants pocket, pulling out a small, circular mirror. "I'll call Sirius."

Lily's eyes shot open as she looked at him, holding the mirror in front of his face. She frowned.

"Sirius," James said to the object and a second later, Blacks arrogant voice came flowing out of it.

"Alright, Prongs? Lost are you?" He teased.

Lily jumped and scrambled over to him, leaning in front of the mirror to see Sirius Blacks face looking back.

"Black!" She cheered with relief.

"Evans!" He grinned. "Is that why you were sneaking off, Jamesy? And here I thought you were shopping for me. What are you doing here Evans?"

"We're trapped in an elevator, Black. Come get us out."

He said nothing, just stared at them through the little mirror and for a moment Lily thought it might actually be glitching, but then an obscenely obnoxious smile began to spread across his face and tears began to fill his eyes.

"Prongs," he choked through silent laughter. "You're stuck in an elevator with Lily Evans?"

Potter had the nerve to smile and nod his head. "I know."

"If I were you, I'd take full advantage of this situation. She'll never let you be alone with her for this long ever again."

James laughed and Lily groaned, taking the mirror out of his hand. "Black, if you don't come get us out of here right now, the first thing I'm going to do when we get back to school is give you enough detention to last until summer. Go find Marlene and get us out."

"McKinnon is here?" He beamed. "Sweet! You're right, I'm going to go find her. Oi, guys let's go find McKinnon!" Lily heard him call before all she could see in the mirror was her own face starring irately back at her.

She sighed again, dejectedly, and dropped the mirror back into Potter's lap.

"Looks like we'll be here for a while," he mused.

"Oh Merlin," she whined softly to herself. "Why me?"

"Hey, come on. It's not the worst thing. If there were anyone in the world I'd want to be stuck I an elevator with it's you," he smiled flirtatiously and batted his stupid long eyelashes. She glared at him, unamused. "Really though, it could be worse. You could be stuck in here with that whale you told me about.

She chuckled at that. He could do that now; make her laugh. She hated it. "That's true."

"How is that whole situation by the way? Has your holiday been good?"

"No," she said immediately and regretted it. "Well… yes. I'm happy to be home, I missed my parents but, Petunias been insufferable. I _still_ miss her. Honestly I'd rather be back at school. I might just do that next year."

"That bad?"

"She hates me, and I can't make her love me again. No matter what I do. And her boyfriend is so completely rude and boring. He's over all the time! I'm sure I've seen him more than anyone else during this break."

"So, you're also here to avoid them?"

"Partly," she admitted.

"You should come spend a few days at my house. My parents would love to have you," he said and then cleared his throat, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I mean, I'm sure they'd really like you, and Sirius will be there too."

She'd never seen him bashful before. It was cute. Instantly she wanted to slap herself for thinking so, and for really wanting to accept his offer. Really, really wanting to say yes. But when she noticed herself starting to nod she shook her head instead. She bit her lip and twisted her ring again.

"I shouldn't. My parents would think I was miserable enough to leave."

"Aren't you miserable enough to leave?"

"Yes, but I don't want them to know that."

"I don't want you to be miserable during the holidays."

"Well there's not a whole lot you can do about it," she said, making herself feel angry because she knew it probably wasn't true.

"Okay," Potter relented. "You can think about it," and then added, "If you want to. The offer's always open."

"Thanks."

The silence that followed was long and, not uncomfortable but… full. Like the air was being charged. And their legs were touching. And she was allowing it, because she didn't want to move. She didn't want to _not _be touching him. Damnit.

They were each sitting with their hands in their laps, Potter trying to remain his cool, collected self while being completely still and Lily nervously twiddling her fingers and playing with her ring. She could feel the heat of him beside her and from how she was sitting, her eyes came up just over his shoulder. She could see each freckle that trailed up from the collar of his shirt like a constellation. Over his neck to the line of his jaw and a single, lone one sitting just below the juncture of his ear. It fascinated her like nothing else and she wondered if her own freckles looked as appealing.

_He's not appealing in any way lily. Get ahold of yourself, _she thought, chastising herself. _You should give yourself detention._

Then she realized how obvious it probably was that she was staring right at him. She looked away, locking her eyes on her anxiously fiddling hands, glad that if he'd noticed, he didn't show it.

"Lily?"

She swallowed. "Yeah, James?"

"What did you get me for Christmas?" He asked.

"Absolutely nothing," she answered, and joined him as he laughed. It made their arms brush against one another.

Then, adding to the new warmth in the room, he reached over and took her hand, pinching his thumb and forefinger around her ring. She stilled and let him. The thought to pull her hand back hardly crossed her mind. Then to inspect it further, he wiggled it off her figure and she flexed her hand to let him do that too.

He turned it slowly and let it rest on the end of his fingertip, examining the small band of silver. It was plain, with nothing special to adorn it. Just a small, thin, silver ring. He glanced at her and didn't have to ask.

"It's got history," Lily answered his unspoken question.

"What history?"

"I don't know. I found it in the park when I was little, but I imagine it's got a good story."

"Kind of like us," he said simply, and it was enough to make her chest tighten. She took a deep breath, trying to relieve the pressure, and just like that she was never going to be able to look at the ring without adding him to its history.

He took her hand again and slid it back onto her finger. Immediately she began twisting it again and he smiled. She took another deep breath and sighed, feeling too hot in the small space.

"Why didn't I bring my phone. Black has to have found Marlene by now, she has to know we're trapped in here. Or at least maintenance. Merlin, what if they just put an 'out of order' sign on the door?"

"I'm sure McKinnon is coming to rescue you right now," he assured her.

"Us."

"I'm perfectly fine."

"How can you say that? We're trapped in an elevator."

"Together."

"Stop it, Potter."

"Why?" He smirked at her. "Am I getting to you?"

She ignored him and didn't try to answer.

"Evans?" He prodded, a note of cautious anticipation entering his voice as he turned towards her.

She huffed again and looked up to refute the idea once again, but looking into his bright, hazel eyes, she suddenly found that she couldn't. She had to settle for looking at him with disapproval. She didn't know how effective it was.

"Lily," he urged again and still she couldn't say anything. Her lips parted and none of her usual denial came out. He reached for her slowly, softly resting his fingers over her hand first and when she didn't pull way he moved the touch up to the side of her face. He let his fingertips ghost over the smooth skin above and below her delicate jawline. His thumb moving to press lightly against her chin, keeping her lips parted as he moved slowly closure.

"Of course not," she found her voice finally on a breath, but it was absurdly soft and out of place. Like it was hardly even her voice. He stopped though, staring into her eyes as if he could read her inner thoughts. Thank Merlin he couldn't, Lily was thinking as she stared back him, her eyebrows furrowed at her own odd behavior.

The pressure of his fingers on her face began to increase and when his hand moved to slide around the back over neck the elevator suddenly dropped again, only slightly before the doors opened and the two quickly pulled away from each other. Lily hadn't even been aware of her own hand on Potter's arm.

"Lily!" Marlene called from outside the elevator doors. Her wand was held out discreetly and Remus, Sirius and Peter were standing behind her to block her from the view of any muggles passing by.

"Marlene," Lily greeted back and took her best friends' hands as she entered the elevator and offered to help her up. "Thank God."

"I can't believe you're both still alive. When the boys found be at Victoria Secret I thought you might have killed each other already."

"Who's Victoria? What's the secret?" James asked.

"It's a secret," Marlene emphasized.

"Underwear," Black informed him and waggled his eyebrows.

"Oh," James mused, looking back at Lily suggestively. She groaned silently and picked up her shopping bags before backing Marlene out of the elevator. She felt it almost like a shock when the air shifted from full, to light.

"Thanks for coming to get us," Lily said.

"Well I wasn't going to leave you stuck in there. Are you okay? Do you still want to shop?"

"Of course. I'm so not ready to go home yet."

"Good," Marlene said and opened her purse, dropping lily's wand into one of her shopping bags. "Just in case anything else crazy happens and I'm not around."

Sirius was laughing and nudging James's arm while Remus shook his head and Peter giggled.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Nothing," James answered, burying his hand in his hair once again.

"Come on Lils, let's go to Box Lunch, I know exactly what to get Alice," Marlene began, taking lily's hand. "Thank you boys, for letting me know my best friend was stuck in an elevator. Glad you're okay, Potter. See you at practice."

"McKinnon," he nodded.

"Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas," Remus and Sirius answered.

"Oh, happy Christmas," Peter added.

Marlene started to pull Lily away, but James stepped forward and laid a hand on Lily's arm. She stopped, feeling the tug on her hand before Marlene realized she wasn't following.

"If you change your mind… about Christmas. Just send me an owl."

"Or you could teach me that cool mirror trick."

He narrowed his eyes, smirking. "If you change your mind, maybe I will."

Lily rolled her eyes to distract from her smile. "Happy Christmas, Potter."

"Happy Christmas, Evans."

"Great. Box Lunch," Marlene continued and pulled at Lily's hand.

"Yeah Prongs, let's go to Spencers!" Sirius cheered as the girls walked away.

James turned to face him with a frown. "I've heard about that place, Padfoot. You're a right wanker."

"Don't knock it 'til you've been there," Sirius held up his hands and clapped James on the back, "Let's go."

"Oh, Merlin. What's wrong with Spencers?" Remus asked,

"Nothing, Mooney. Absolutely nothing is wrong with Spencers," Sirius wrapped an arm around his friends' shoulders and began leading them in the direction of the favored shop.

Down the opposite way, Marlene and Lily had their arms linked as they moved through the flow of shoppers. Marlene was recounting the shocking moment when Sirius came skipping through Victoria Secret to find her holding a matching pair of checkered underwear. Lily looked back over her shoulder through the crowd of people to see the boys happily sauntering away. The one thing that stood out to her, however, was James Potters wand sticking right out of his back pocket.


End file.
